About Us
Congress: The Context
SUBJECTS
U.S. Government, Politics, U.S. History (1950)
GRADE LEVEL
9-12
OBJECTIVES
This lesson invites students to compare and contrast the campaign brochures of two candidates for the U.S. Senate from Illinois in 1950 in order to (1) determine what elements make for an effective brochure (both content and design); (2) assess the relative effectiveness of the two examples; (3) understand what messages a campaign brochure intends to send; and (4) appreciate the similarities and differences between political campaigns of today and half a century ago.
LESSON PLAN
Context
The 1950 U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois was historic for several reasons. First, it pitted the Senate Majority Leader, incumbent Democrat Scott Lucas, against his Republican challenger, Everett McKinley Dirksen. As a result, the campaign attracted national attention from the outset—if President Harry Truman’s chief lieutenant in the Senate lost, it would foreshadow the presidential race two years later. Second, the 1950 campaign took place at the dawn of the McCarthy period in American history when partisan tempers ran hot—a fact reflected in the campaign rhetoric of the time. Third, Dirksen’s unexpected victory launched his career as a politician of national stature and influence.
In terms of the candidates’ brochures, they are starkly different and offer a wonderful opportunity to compare and contrast.
Sequence
1. Ask students to answer the following question: “What makes for an effective campaign brochure?” Or, “What information should a campaign brochure contain?”
Experts today suggest that brochures should contain one idea per paragraph, use short sentences, use bullet points, and be divided into sections (e.g., About the Candidate, Issues, Voting Information, Contact Information). They also recommend keeping the layout simple, using powerful photographs (including at least one of the candidate!), and presenting charts to convey information more simply than words.
2. Next, students will look at the campaign brochures of Scott Lucas and Everett Dirksen and answer the following questions:
What do the two brochures have in common?
What information is missing from either one?
What are the three or four main messages each brochure is trying to send to voters?
What appeals to you about either brochure and why?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the comic book approach?*
Based on the brochures, which candidate do you think won the election?*Sidebar: A study entitled “Adult America’s Interest in Comics” and published in 1950 reported these findings: 4 out of every 5 urban adults read comics; the reading of comics was widespread among all levels of society; people who read comics generally spent more time listening to the radio, read more magazines, and attended more movies than people who did not; a much higher percentage of adults with a college education read comics than those limited to a grade school education; one out of four adults was a present reader of comic books.
The Lucas campaign selected Commercial Comics, Inc. to produce the campaign piece. The contract called for a press run of one million at a cost of $13,250. The shipment weighed 50,000 pounds and occupied 1,600 cubic feet.
3. Finally, students will find current examples of congressional campaign brochures and compare them to the Lucas and Dirksen brochures. What do they have in common? How are they different? What are some of the factors that might explain why today’s brochures look different?
RESOURCES
Scott Lucas campaign brochure [Double-click each page for zooming and click the magnifying glass located in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen to auto-zoom to original.]
CREDIT
This lesson was created by the staff of The Dirksen Congressional Center.
